Rockford Public Library trustees to consider schedule changes

Matt Williams

Monday

Feb 28, 2011 at 12:01 AMFeb 28, 2011 at 10:21 AM

ROCKFORD — The Rockford Public Library may tweak its hours of service to better serve the public while accommodating its staff. The library’s board of trustees meets Monday night to consider a plan that would leave only the main library and the East branch open on Saturdays, while the main library would add Thursdays to its hours of service.

ROCKFORD — The Rockford Public Library may tweak its hours of service to better serve the public while accommodating its staff.

The library’s board of trustees meets Monday night to consider a plan that would leave only the main library and the East branch open on Saturdays, while the main library would add Thursdays to its hours of service.

A library board committee approved the plan Tuesday. The full board meets at 6 p.m. Monday to consider the proposal. Budget cuts last year led to fewer hours of service.

Further changes were studied after officials and union employees agreed on a labor contract in January that awarded full-time employees schedules with two consecutive days off.

“Right now at the main library we are closed Sunday and Thursday, so the people who work there never get two days off in a row,” Executive Director Frank Novak said. “That has been a problem for a lot of our employees.

“The public is our primary concern, but if we can make it a little bit better for our staff members, obviously we want to do that.”

While the East branch will remain open for five days, the Montague, Rock River and Rockton Centre branches will have Tuesday through Friday hours to allow those staff members to fill in shifts at the main library. All library locations are closed Sundays.

To keep the current schedule, the library board would have to agree to hire more staff to accommodate the union agreement, Novak said.

“Not that I wouldn’t like to have more staff, but we just have to be real careful right now,” he said. “The local economy is still struggling, and we just have to be mindful of that.”

Novak said having the busier main library open an extra day would benefit patrons more than any alternative option.

“It is well known that the east and main locations are the busiest. Hopefully with new hours we would be able to have a little more service at the big library.”

The library board also will be discussing the vacant coffee shop at the East Branch, which until November had been occupied by Meg’s Daily Grind.

Novak said he hopes to have the space filled by April 1. The library is in talks with a potential operator who does not have any other coffee shop locations, Novak said.